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Mr. Monk and the Other Woman
Mr. Monk and the Other Woman is the seventh episode of the first season of Monk (TV series). Synopsis Monk's dedication to his late wife is tested when he meets a beautiful woman, Monica Waters, who has her sights set on a certain obsessive-compulsive detective. Will a burgeoning romance interfere with a murder investigation? Or is it all part of a larger plan? Plot As attorney Lou Pratt finishes his day's work, a shadowy figure creeps into his office and kills him by stabbing him with a knife and strangling him with his telephone cord. He then removes and burns a file from the file room, then stabs and kills Pratt's assistant when she walks in on him. It's not long before Monk is called in to assist with the investigation. The prime suspect: Lawrence Grayson, the client whose file was burned in Pratt's office. At Grayson's home, Monk learns that not only did Grayson owe the dead attorney money, but that he had also threatened Pratt one year earlier, after Pratt failed to win an injunction to keep Grayson's neighbor, the lovely Monica Waters, from building a garage near Grayson's property line. Monk can't believe that a petty legal dispute over a simple garage could turn so deadly. He also can't believe the striking resemblance between Monica Waters and Trudy. Monk is smitten, and he arranges to have dinner with Monica to discuss the case. However, it's clear Monk is more interested in Monica than in the murder. Later, at Pratt's funeral, Monk explains to Sharona that Grayson couldn't have been the one who murdered Pratt, because the struggle lasted for at least three minutes, something that Grayson wouldn't have done as he was a former Green Beret, and thus would have overpowered Pratt far more easily. One of Pratt's elderly clients keels over dead after Monk berates him for coughing. The old man's nephew shouts at Monk for his heartlessness. Stottlemeyer is convinced of Grayson's guilt - that is, until the figure kidnaps Grayson's dog to lure him in, then bludgeons him with a shovel, breaking his neck. Suspicion now falls on Monica, who Monk refuses to believe is a killer. Stottlemeyer and Sharona fear that the love-struck Monk is putting himself in harm's way. Their fears are confirmed when they learn Monica's husband has been missing for several months and is presumed dead. While Monk is spending the night at Monica's house (ostensibly to protect her), Stottlemeyer calls him on his cell phone and warns him about the missing husband. He and Sharona rush over, believing that the husband is buried under her new garage, but Monica, hurt and confused, tells them her husband is actually at a private clinic in Switzerland, being treated for schizophrenia. Embarrassed, Stottlemeyer withdraws. Determined to clear Monica's name, Monk and Sharona return to Pratt's office, where Monk notices something off in one of the filing drawers, and all the clues finally click into place. Here's What Happened At the reading of a family will, Monk confronts Tod Katterskill, the nephew who told him off at Pratt's funeral after his uncle dropped dead. The nephew knew he had been cut out of his elderly uncle's will, so he broke into the office of his uncle's lawyer, Pratt - not to destroy anything in the file room, but to leave something behind: a new, forged will which left everything to him. Pratt had to be killed because he would be able to identify the will as a forgery. The file that Katterskill burned was chosen at random simply to send the police in the wrong direction. After overhearing at the funeral that Monk had doubts about Grayson's guilt, Katterskill killed Grayson to keep the police going down that false trail. Tod made two mistakes: first, the fake will was dated October 4th, but was "signed" by a notary public who was actually on vacation on that date; second, he didn't notice that Pratt arranged his files with the tabs in staggered rows (left, middle, right) and when he replaced his uncle's file, he put the "middle" file next to another "middle" (though it is doubtful that anyone less observant than Monk would have noticed that). The final proof: when Tod tries to run, Grayson's vicious dog is waiting for him in the hallway outside; since the masked intruder used the dog to lure Grayson into the garage where he was killed, the dog remembers Tod well, and growls. Stottlemeyer apologizes to Monk for his suspicions (and explains to Monk when he tells Stottlemeyer that he didn't have to apologize to him that he did have to apologize to Monk, as the commissioner made him apologize), while Monica tells Monk that spending time with him has reminded her that she loves her husband in spite of his condition, and is going to try to bring him home and make their marriage work. Category:Season 1 Category:Episodes